El Pasoans show support at sold out ‘Beers with Beto’ event in Washington, D.C.
Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) held a “Beers with Beto” event in Washington, D.C. Thursday, which sold out and even attracted some El Pasoans living on the East Coast.
“I think it’s awesome that we finally have someone out there that’s really speaking up against Ted Cruz, speaking up against everything that was bringing so many people down,” Javier Lopez, a D.C. resident who is originally from El Paso, said. “Beto was just talking about the percentages of turnout and how so many people were disenfranchised voters and how’s there are different ways to address gerrymandering and other concerns.”
Lopez is an O’Rourke supporter who lives in D.C. but is from Northeast El Paso and attended Cathedral High School.
“Having a person that’s willing to tear down the walls that have divided so many people so often is just such a great thing to see,” Lopez said.
Other El Pasoans at the event said they appreciated O’Rourke’s fundraising efforts.
“I love that Beto is not taking PAC money. He’s getting money from people like us and all of these people,” Tita Rodela, who lives in Virginia now but is from El Paso and attended Loretto Academy and UTEP, said. “
This event comes after recent attack ads by O’Rourke’s Senate opponent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Allies of Cruz targeted O’Rourke in a new TV ad over his support on the El Paso City Council for a plan to redevelop downtown El Paso that raised the threat of eminent domain.
“I think that’s inappropriate and I love it that [O’Rourke] is not going there. When they go low, we go high,” Rodela said about the ads.
Cruz’s campaign also started posting on social media a mugshot of O’Rourke from 1998 when he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. That case was dismissed when O’Rourke attended driver classes. O’Rourke has been vocal about his past arrests and recently talked about it during an interview on the Ellen Show, saying that DWI arrest does not define him.
“I think the Democrat that [O’Rourke] is, he’s for the working man,” Eduardo Rodelo, a retired federal employee from El Paso, said. “He’s making sure they have insurance and preparation for jobs of the future. No gimmicks like coal, which is obsolete. I think Beto is very genuine.”
The fundraiser not only attracted El Pasoans, but New Mexicans including Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM).
“Beto O’Rourke is going to be the best thing that ever happened to the United States Senate,” Udall said. “He’s a leader, a fighter, he can make a real difference.”
O’Rourke’s campaign is planning to hold another “Beers with Beto” event in Austin on Sept. 18.
